Snapshots
by Temari 88
Summary: A collection of NaruGaa scenes or photos that can be considered memorables, of whatever genre romance, fun, sad... *Written for the GaaNaru Valentine Fest Challenge :D*
1. Prologue

_Hello! :D_

_Okay, I desperatly wanted to post something for the _**GaaNaru Valentine Love Fest Challenge** _but I've been quite busy and couldn't find the time to gather my ideas... the other day I realised the month was almosr over and thought 'To hell with homework! I HAVE to partecipate!" so I started writing something..._

_For the following fanfiction, I decided I liked one of the ideas I found in the LJ profile escecially for the Fest; the idea was: a collection of NaruGaa scenes (photos) that can be considered memorables, of whatever genre (romance, fun, sad...) ---I'd like to thank **jayi**, whose idea this was :D_

_Plus, I wanted to add that, along with NaruGaa scenes, I might add all the others in some of these little things; and that I'll probably add also a scene with Naruto feeding Gaara (this was another idea found in the LJ profile, but it was anonimus...)._

_Uhm... I think this is all...  
Oh! Disclamer: I don't own Naruto; I DO own Ike, though :P_

_Read&Review! XD_

**

* * *

**

**SNAPSHOTS**

**(Chapter 1) Prologue **

"Ike…! Are you ready?"

"Yes, dad! Just a sec, I'll be right there!"

"Damn it… where the heck have I put it?!" Ike grumbled while throwing articles of clothing all around the once-tidy room, searching madly for the needed object. She was doing a mess, she knew that, but they couldn't leave without it!

"Ike! What are you doing up there?!" came Ike's mother's voice; the girl ignored the woman in order to focus her memory: it _had_ to be in there, somewhere… but where? She couldn't show up empty-handed! She paused a moment her frantic search to think clearly, she glanced around absent-mindedly when her eyes locked on the TV set opposite to her; rather, she almost slapped herself as her eyes rested on a package _on top_ of the TV: there, in plain sight, was the object she was looking for.

"Ike! If you don't come down this instant, I'll leave you here and call Anko-san to baby-sit you!" came her father's threat (when he said things like that, he often wasn't serious –not with Ike, anyway- but she knew he would carry out this particular threat).

"Coming, coming!" Ike hurried back downstairs, clutching the package to her chest along with her backpack and jacket; the sole thought of Anko-san baby-sitting was enough not only to terrify her but also to make her bolt for the front door just in time not to be lock inside.

"About time…" said Ike's mother, an eyebrow raised. "What were you doing, anyway?"

"Oh, I couldn't find this!" explained the teenage girl, holding up something wrapped up in orange paper.

"And just what is 'this'?"

"Somehow I believe I know what it might be…" grumbled Ike's father eyeing the object.

"It's a gift for Ojii-chan! I can't go visit without a present…!" said the girl smiling widely. She placed the package gently inside the backpack, then turned towards her parents. "Well? Weren't we in a hurry…?" before heading for the car and hopping in.

&-&-&-&

They arrived to their destination not long after. The car stopped in front of a modern-looking house, painted a very light brown with a small but lovely garden populated by a number of varieties of flowers.

Ike got out of the back seat, her few possessions with her, and faced her parents through one of the car's windows.

"Okay… have fun, you two: it's your anniversary, after all! It's only right that you spend the evening –and night- without me bothering you…! And don't worry for me: I'm in the best hands I could be! Also… a brother or sister wouldn't be bad, you know…"

"Ike! That's not something you should say your parents!" her mother was a bit shocked; her father merely shook his head in disbelief. "Maybe we shouldn't let you spend the night here… you're only fifteen and your innocence is already being thrown out the window…"

"That's not true. You should have more faith in your daughter… plus Ojii-chan has nothing to do with it –not much, at least." said Ike. "Well, I'll be off and so should you two or the movie will start before you arrive! Bye!" smiling, the girl waved at her parents as the car drove off.

&-&-&-&

Ike made her way to the wooden door and knocked twice before she was allowed to enter –she used to enter without knocking, when she was younger (thirteen), but after a certain episode, she decided not to risk her luck again.

She closed the door after herself only to be greeted by an empty entry-hall. Where was her Ojii-chan? Had the door opened on its own accord (creepy thought but it seemed to happen sometimes…)? Ike decided to try and look in the kitchen…

Nothing… where could he have disappeared to? He was at home, that was for sure, but where?

"Ojii-chan…? You know I don't like hide-and-seek…" called the girl, not really wanting to search the whole house. "I have something for you, I'm sure you'll like!"

"Oh really? What is it?" came a voice from directly behind her.

"Gyaaahhh!" Ike jumped two feet high when she felt a hand on her shoulder without warning: it happened often that she would get scared like that with her Ojii-chan; he seemed to move faster than was humanly possible. "Ojii-chan! You scared the shit out of me…!!"

"Ike-chan…" said the man with a slight reprimanding voice and waving a finger in disapproval. "Watch your language: your parents think it's me 'corrupting' you when it's all your own doing…! That teme already irritates me enough as it is…"

Ike just laughed at the pout that faced her. Naruto shook his head and then smiled widely stretching out his arms; the girl immediately took on the offer and launched herself at him, squeezing the man tight and got squeezed in an iron grip in return.

As Naruto realised her, Ike followed him until they reached the living-room where, she noted, a large pile of papers was staked and scattered on the table in the centre with a cup of steaming hot chocolate near by. The blond man flopped down on the sofa, picking up the cup and gesturing toward the girl in offer; Ike nodded and Naruto got on his feet and quickly disappeared inside the kitchen.

The teenaged girl glanced at the paper completely covering the dark wooden table and realised they were a number of photos –Naruto was probably looking through them, ordering them into an album or something like that.

Just as Naruto returned with her own cup of hot cocoa, a thought popped up in Ike's mind.

"Where's Ojii-san?"

"Un? Oh, he's still at work; he had an important meeting that dragged beyond normal." answered Naruto with a smile. "So, you have anything in mind you'd like to do?"

"Nah, not really… what were you doing with all this photos?"

"Just remembering the 'good ol' times': boring stuff…" explained the older man.

"Why boring? I think it's interesting!" exclaimed Ike enthusiastically. "I've never seen these photos: why don't show me some…? I'd like to know how you and mom an' dad an' Ojii-san an' all the others were like!"

"Oh really? Well, that's fine by me –I don't have much of anything else to do at the moment- but it might take long—"

"Doesn't matter! I have to sleep over at any rate…"

"All right… pick a photo, then…" said Naruto gesturing with a hand to the mess on the living-room table.

"Okay!"

* * *

_End first chapter! :P_

_Hope you liked it!_

_Ja ne,  
Temari 88_


	2. I'm just a kid

_Hello! :D_

_Sorry I took so long :P But here I am with the second chapter of the story!_

_  
Read&Review! XD_

**

* * *

**

**(Chapter 2)**

"So, Ike, have you decided yet?" asked Naruto, both curious and amused seeing the contemplative look on the girl's face; she was very serious about selecting the first photograph: she was gently biting her bottom lip, like she always did when thinking about something important –that was a habit she had picked up from her 'Ojii-chan'.

Finally, after another two minutes, Ike reached out her hand toward the chosen photo and she gave it to the blond man seated in the centre of the couch. "This one."

Naruto took the polished paper in hand with a laugh at the determined tone used by the teenaged girl. After one last glance at his 'niece', Naruto turned to look at the photograph he was holding and a sigh escaped his lips a bit too harshly than he intended, when he saw Ike's first choice: the image there was an old one; one he didn't show often (come to think of it, only one person had seen it before) because it portrayed a moment of his life he didn't really care to remember.

It was the picture of a five years-old Naruto, shadowed by the tree he was seated under; he was curled up on himself, his arms around the knees and his head resting on them so no one would see the boy's expression; near his feet a corner of something dark grey. The place was empty, save for the child (and the person who took the photo), and in the background the hint of a clear blue sky contrasted greatly with the sadness one could feel seep through the picture.

Still with his eyes trained on the boy that was he himself, Naruto smiled in a forlorn way that almost made Ike cringe. "Why this one first, Ike?" he wanted to know.

"Because I want to know why you look so sad, Ojii-chan." she had been struck by the photograph: it was so different from the way she was used to see her 'uncle' normally; he'd never been one to fall pray to sadness and curl in a corner all alone, he had never lost his smile and will to live. This was what she'd always thought, so seeing Naruto look so alone… she realized she didn't actually know much about her Ojii-chan's past.

"Oh… well, uhm…" Naruto tried to stall the explanation but the look Ike was giving him was much like her mother's when she was somewhat worried for him. _"Ridiculous…! A girl worried for me: what a blow to my ego, damn!"_ he thought shaking his blond head. "All right."

"Spill it!"

"Calm down, will you?? Or no story for you miss." Ike seemed quite offended at being called 'miss' but didn't comment on it, anxious as she was to hear what Naruto had to say.

"I don't know who took this photo –I never found out- nor when it was taken 'cause at that time I happened to go to that park quite often: it was my safe place, if you want to call it that."

Ike had her eyes glued to the blond man she had came to care so much about, trying to take in everything that was passing the shield Naruto had put up without her noticing. Her dark green eyes winded when she saw this: just how much of his childhood had been left out? Why didn't mom and dad tell her anything about it? Was it that they didn't trust her?

She loved her Ojii-chan, so why…?

"I remember one of the worst times, though, and I wouldn't be surprised if whoever chose me as a 'model', saw me that day…"

-- **Naruto's POV** --

_I had been feeling down since the day before because it was my parents death's anniversary and the wounds –emotional wounds, that is- were still very fresh for a child of that age; plus I __had left the orphanage where I had been living for the past six or seven months only some time before… I still was not used to the people who had taken me in: my foster parents, then, were not what one would say affectionate; on the contrary, they were pretty much indifferent about my feelings or concerns._

_They had decided to take me in just because of the aids they would have received for taking care of an orphan. I was a source for money, nothing more, nothing less._

_But I guess that was okay… I mean, of course I was left to care for myself and everything, but I thought that was better than continue to live in that orphanage; actually there wasn't much of a difference but I couldn't do anything about it –I was barely five, after all._

_Anyway, that day I had been feeling sad and lonely, I couldn't focus on what the teachers were saying during the classes –I didn't care to listen to them- to the point that one of them reprimanded me in front of everybody else. I don't need to say that the words were completely lost to me, they didn't even reach me; I don't even know who the teacher was._

_It only got worse from there._

_At the end of the school day, some bullies two or three years older than me stopped and cornered me while I was about to exit the building; they kicked and punched me without a reason (not that that kind of people really need an excuse to do it) for a good five minutes before the distant sound of footsteps scared them away… I remember I stumbled a bit to get up but nothing more before taking off towards the street. I didn't even see who the person who'd 'saved' me had been, but I wasn't going to risk falling in the hands of yet another bully._

_When I got home, my foster parents saw the forming bruises and demanded to know what I had gotten myself into; they thought whatever happened had been ignited by the likes of me, so they told me to get over it and learn not to cause trouble around the neighbourhood or else there would be problems for them –and they didn't want problems because of a kid like me._

_I remember they didn't even let me explain; they never listened to my side of the story._

_That had just the effect of bring me further down my path of sadness and loneliness… I pretended to lock myself up in my room but instead I sneaked out through my window and climbed down a ladder strategically placed there (my foster parents seemed oblivious to the fact that it was there; or simply didn't think I'd use it to go out by myself without them knowing…)._

_Before long, I had arrived to a special place that brought me both peace and a strong sense of loss: the cemetery where my real parents laid buried. I felt I needed to be there because it was the anniversary of their passing, because I needed to disillusion –maybe- myself that I could feel their presence beside me, because I felt so alone in that moment…_

_I sat down under the tree that grew beside the graves, my back touching the bark, my legs pulled close to the chest. I stayed there in silence for a time, then I started talking quietly… -not so much- pretending I was spilling all my frustration, anguish, loneliness directly to 'mom and dad' and not to the grey tomb stones next to me where their names were carved._

_I can't really say how much time I spend blabbing on about everything that came to mind… after a while, I feel asleep; emotional exhaustion maybe a bit too heavy for a five-years-old to sustain on his own, I guess that's what one would say._

_When I woke up I noticed immediately it had started to get late and was about to get up, when I saw a photograph resting near my feet. I picked it up and realized it was me the one sleeping under the tree… I panicked, afraid that some freak was spying on me, but after a quick glance around I calmed down wondering about the image in my hand._

_I stood there three or four minutes more before deciding to, reluctantly, make my way back towards the foster house before the other two found I had wandered off on my own._

--

"… And that's it, I guess." finished Naruto with a slight shrug of his shoulders. He looked up from the photo he was still holding and saw the frown on Ike's face. "What is it, Ike?"

"… Those bastards!" the girl was utterly pissed. "Treating a five-years-old kid like that! If I knew where they live I'd have gone there and kicked the shit out of them!!"

"Ahaha!! Well, I don't think there's no need for that: not longer after that episode, my godfather came and 'kidnapped' me… not before having given hell to my foster parents for having made me miserable. I believe they still remember that day very clearly." said the blond man with a grin. Ike immediately brighten up at the news and shouted a 'good job, ero-sennin!' throwing a punch in the air.

* * *

_Hope you liked it!_

_Ja ne,  
Temari 88_


End file.
